University of Nebraska alumnus Wayne Charles Kreuscher died on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, in his Mahopac, N.Y., home. A graduate of both the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Journalism and the University of Nebraska School of Law, he was born Feb. 13, 1946, in Lincoln where he lived until he graduated from law school in 1974. His early focus was on journalism editing the Lincoln Southeast High School Clarion and working at the Lincoln Star even before entering university. A 1968 magna cum laude graduate of what was then the UNL J-School, he was editor of the Daily Nebraskan and member of the Innocents Society.
After graduation, he began law school preparing to report on government affairs for a major newspaper. His plans were interrupted when he was drafted during the Vietnam War and inducted into the U.S. Army where he edited award winning military newspapers in Georgia and Germany. After he was discharged, he returned to law school, was editor of the Nebraska Law Review and graduated with distinction in 1974. He accepted a position with Indiana’s largest law firm, now known as Barnes & Thornburg, moved to Indianapolis and, for almost 40 years, litigated on behalf of clients, garnering national recognition for his expertise in the practice of products-liability and medical-malpractice defense. In 1994, he was one of the first partners of a national law firm to come out as openly gay.
Throughout that time, Wayne supported equal rights and dignity for all in various ways. He combined his dual interests in law and journalism not only by applying the journalism skills he acquired to his law practice but also served on the publication committee of the American Bar Assn. in the 1980s and worked with former Nebraska journalists Dr. Bill Hall and Paul Williams, both of whom were at Ohio State University to establish Investigative Reporters and Editors in the late 1970s.
After moving to Mahopac in 2012, he joined the law firm of Goldberg Segalla in White Plains just outside Manhattan. He retired again in 2016.
